Re: [ST] Introduction..

["Neil Lindsey" <neil@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

- ----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Bostock".


> In English 'paved' = covered in concrete slabs of uniform size usually
> about 2' by 2'6" ie the pavement where pedestrians walk (just to confuse
> the issue some 'pavements' are not paved though).  Roads are just 'roads'
> or 'carriageways', surfaced with a bituminous compound of some
> description, when they run out of man-made surface they tend to become
> 'tracks'.  Hence the term 'road-rash' which is the damage caused to a
> motorcycle rider who meets the road surface when he is not wearing
> protective clothing :-(
>

Mike,

According to my copy of the Pocket Oxford Dictionary "pavement" is:

"layer of flat stones, bricks, tiles, wooden blocks, asphalt, etc., as
surface of road or floor; paved footway beside street"

So according to this refernce, pavement can technically refer to EITHER the
roadway or the pedestrian walkway (sidewalk).  Ironically the same
dictionary defines the verb "pave" as "cover road surface with pavement" and
makes no reference to walkways.  This also suggests that "pavement" more
accurately refers to the material rather than to where it's used -- go
figure!

However North America pavement usually means the roadway itself and not the
material. In Canada roads are almost always paved with asphalt, but in the
US concrete is much more common.  So here in Canada when someone says
"pavement" almost everyone thinks roadway because they assume asphalt to be
the primary paving material.  And sidewalks, which are usually concrete
throughout North America, are not considered to be pavement.  Then, of
course,  there are driveways, which can typically be either concrete or
asphalt, but we generally don't think of driveways as pavement either.

Confused yet? .... 8o)



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